Why Not Pull for These People?

Thanks to Roger who thanks Brian who may have thought this up himself, but it’s the Internet, so who cares? ‘1. Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border. 2. Use the dirt to raise the levees in New Orleans. 3. Put the Florida alligators in the moat. Any other problems that need to be solved today?’

☞ Well, we have a lot of problems to solve, actually. But the President and Republican Senate have set aside this week to solve the problems of divorce and unwed mothers – which they propose to do, at least in part, by denying gay Americans equal rights and telling churches whom they may and may not marry.

VOWS

Jim Ries: ‘Here‘s an article about a small town in Missouri where it is illegal for three or more people to live together if unmarried. So, imagine a gay couple with children living there. They would have to get married, but would also be prohibited from getting married. Sometimes I’m a bit embarrassed to say that I grew up in small town Missouri. Sometimes I’m a bit embarrassed to say I grew up in the United States.’

John in Atlanta: ‘Someday same-sex marriage will be routine. I am married to a female, but I know right from wrong.’

The last thing we should be doing right now is playing politics with the Constitution, or with the lives of gay and lesbian Americans, who see this proposal for what it is – discrimination, pure and simple. Gay and lesbian Americans are our friends, our family members, our neighbors, and our colleagues. They should not be used as pawns in a political exercise.

Backers of the proposal say they want to support marriage. But this debate is not about supporting marriage. Everyone agrees that good and strong marriages should be supported and celebrated. The debate in the Senate is also not about whether states should permit same sex marriage. I happen to believe that two adults who love each other and want to make a lifelong commitment to each other with all of the responsibilities that commitment entails should be able to do so. Others may disagree. But the Senate debate is about whether we should amend the Constitution of the United States to try to define marriage, and restrict, rather than expand, the rights of our citizens. The answer to that question has to be “no.”

It’s deeply disappointing to see the Senate consider this proposed constitutional amendment, and for such cynical reasons. . . . This attempt to pass this constitutional amendment isn’t about values. It’s an attempt to stir up prejudice and fear, but I think it’s going to stir up something else – outrage at Republican leaders. The proposal itself is an outrage, and so is its consideration at the expense of so many other important issues, from health care to gasoline prices to Iraq. . . .

AIDS AND MARRIAGE

John Gilliam: ‘Twenty-five years ago yesterday, a physician in Los Angeles reported to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta that five men had come down with a strange pneumonia and completely lacked the natural defenses to fight it. Our president chose yesterday, of all days, to walk out into the White House Rose Garden and demand that the Senate vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would for the first time use our blessed constitution to intentionally discriminate against a class of people . . . ‘

☞ There’s a connection here. The Republicans’ famously slow reaction to the AIDS crisis, because it seemed to be confined to gay men and heroine addicts, has led to a trajectory of the disease that now has 65 million mostly heterosexual people infected. Imagine if, all things considered, a more muscular response had revved up research and prevention efforts to lower the trajectory of the curve. Over the long run, worldwide, tens of millions of lives – many of them children’s lives – would have been saved.

So what’s the connection between AIDS 25 years ago and the proposed federal anti-marriage amendment today? Other than the obvious – Republican distaste for gay people – it is that promiscuity spreads AIDS. The Republican leadership has consistently worked to discourage and devalue stable, monogamous gay unions. The Republican Party is the party of promiscuity.

AT THE END OF THE DAY IT’S ABOUT PEOPLE

Like the families in these ads. Why not grant them equal rights? Why not pull for them instead of against them? What a nice idea: a society where we’re all pulling for each other.